We May Be Horrible People
by VanillaSpiders
Summary: BTRKinkMeme: From Welcome Back Big Time "Shouldn't the other guys be doing some of the work?" "Oh, don't worry, they will." We never got to see the others pulling their share. Now it's time for the boys to lavish some love on an exhausted Logan. fluff OT4


**Author's Note:** **So I'm filling this hoping to tire myself out. Not gunna lie, I've had this idea in my head even since seeing that episode, just because, in my area of expertise, energy drinks, no matter how '**_**safe'**_** make your system crash eventually. My sinus infection has reached my ears and my throat and now I'm in a shit load of pain and it's 4:15 in the morning for me and it's a Friday, I don't have school and I don't give a fuck. And I want someone to be this nice to me when **_**I'm**_** sick. So I gave Logan troubles. **

**-BTR—**

The second after they had heard they'd gotten their grade and had been allowed to perform, they did. Sure, they had been cutting it close, by about twenty minutes close in fact, once they'd picked up an exhausted Logan and got in the limo and got to stage it was time for Rocktober to begin with Big Time Rush leading the way. And it was every adrenaline rush they'd gotten from their first performance, it wasn't any less thrilling, or any less heart pounding then it had been the first time. Griffin was happy with the performance, Gustavo was pleased with how well the new song came out, Kendall had gotten back on terms with Jo, James and Carlos had their status back and Logan…

Logan had passed out off stage the second the last song was done and he'd stumbled down the stairs into Kendall, who had to perform an act like a ninja in order to catch the smaller brunette from cracking his head open on the cement below.

"_Logan!"_ James and Carlos turned back from the crowd of Palm Woods kids that had come with back stage passes to see Kendall supporting their smart boy's limp body. Kendall brought Logan's head into the space between his neck and under his chin and held him there for a moment, gathering his wits as Carlos and James bounded over in haste.

"What happened to Logan?" Carlos cried staring at the pale boy Kendall was currently holding up.

James looked just as confused, they all did for several seconds, until Kendall figured it out and groaned and slapped his forehead with the palm that wasn't curled around Logan's waist. "Dammit! Logan was doing all our homework-_all night_! Guys…."

James frowned in concentration suddenly. "You know by my experiment I saw two _empty_ energy drinks." He said.

Kendall grimaced. "I saw five by mine."

They looked expectantly at Carlos, who was counting on his fingers. He glanced up at them, sheepish. "…seven?" He said in a small voice. They all groaned at the realization their friend had performed impossible feats of smartness, had no sleep, and had still managed to perform and black flip for them on stage. They didn't blame him for passing out after the show.

"We may be horrible people." Kendall said. He brought Logan's arms under his bowed shoulders as James lifted the unconscious brunette onto the tall boy's back. Carlos fidgeted as Kendall secured and tightened his arms under Logan's knees and propped him there. "So what do we do to make it up to him?" The hurt-looking Latino asked.

Kendall got that plan-look in his eye as he headed for the limo, James and Carlos on his heels. "I think pretty much everything. For the rest of our lives." He nodded to himself and the others.

James and Carlos were okay with this, it was for Logan, and it was worth it.

Although the last thing Logan remembered was the world spinning and Kendall below him looking as white as a sheet as the ground careened toward him, he didn't remember being in his room in apartment 2J when he had fainted the second time.

But that's where he was now, or at least where he ended up. And, okay, face planting into the cement three steps down wasn't the coolest way to go, but by the time they had finished their fourth song, Logan was so drained he could barely remember his own name, and after they'd waved and thanked their fans they'd been herded off stage for the next rockers and Logan was so thankful it was over he almost cried.

As it was, he'd made it a grand total of ten weary footfalls before he took one look at the steps below him that led back to earth and realized he was so, so _sleepy_, and he saw Kendall below him, (actually he saw a tall blonde foggy shape that resembled Kendall) so he called out. It came out as a croak that started with a 'K' sound and ended with an 'All' but it was enough because Logan was pretty sure his brains weren't splattered on the cement at the bottom of the stage right now. Kendall had saved him, like usual.

Now though, Lopan regretted keeping his brains anywhere his head, as it was pounding. Fuck, no, it was _pulsing_ and Logan had the worst headache of his life. Blinking through bleary eyes, the brunette took one look at the drawn down shades over the setting sun and burrowed back under his comforter, rolling onto his side, away from his window. And into a very solid, very familiar chest he was sure didn't come with his mattress usually.

If Logan's throat was working properly after fourteen energy drinks and four songs, he would have cried out. As it was, he made a peeping noise that did nothing to stir James. The taller boy simply slept on beside him, and it was then Logan noticed the extra weight on his waist wasn't his comforter, but in fact James's muscular, warm arm laying over him. Feeling minutely more awake now that he had a visitor in his bed, Logan made to wake up the pretty boy, sacrificing a hand to the cooler air around them as he pulled it out from against that warm chest and grabbed at the taller boy's bicep.

"-_Ames_?" Oh wonderful. He could barely talk, and even then it was _just_ above a whisper. Coupled with a pounding head and aching muscles, his esophagus was protesting the recent abuse of substances going down it that were burning its normally insensitive lining, and the strain of hitting all those notes right after those stupid drinks with no rest or mouthwash in between, was finally catching up to him. No, it wasn't catching up, it was passing him into the right hand lane and driving him off the wide of the road. He was in so much pain.

Sometimes, Logan hated being a popstar.

James woke up then, more from the gentle shaking then Logan's pathetic noise, blinked sleepily, stared down at him and leaned forward and…kissed Logan's nose. "Hi Logie," He beamed happily. Those gentle, brilliant eyes gazed into him from under that silky hair, and Logan suddenly tried to remember why he hated being a popstar.

"'Ey," James must have heard the soft croak in his voice, because his eyebrows narrowed in worry as he pulled back, sat up, and leaned over Logan. "You okay?" Logan shook his head sheepishly, trying to form sounds that James could recognize above grunts or mumbles. It was a no-go, and finally Logan sighed angrily and burrowed under the comforter to hide. He pulled them tighter when he heard what might have been a chuckle from James.

'_Don't laugh at me!'_ He wished he could have yelled.

"I'm not laughing at you, Logie." Said James the Mind Reader.

Logan's cozy comforter suddenly vanished with a confident yank from the stronger boy. Logan made that peep of surprise again, the sound turned James's eyes dark in sympathy and pain. Logan looked so…small below him. Pale and shivering, wheezing and wordless and…just small. He looked exhausted.

"Logan…" He wanted to apologize, but…

Logan looked up at him expectantly; initial shock of the cool air over, now all big chocolate brown puppy eyes filled with trust for him, and James's heart sniffled pathetically. He made a noise that sounded vaguely like 'James' but James decided to wait till they could _all_ apologize for being complete assholes to their genius.

Scooping Logan up, and god, he weighed less then he should have, James ignored the small noise again and clutched at the smaller boy. He kissed Logan's temple, effectively earning both silence and stillness from the skinnier one in his arms as he carried him out into the hall.

"Where to, your majesty?"

Logan pointed toward the bathroom, where he reluctantly set Logan down and watched him brush his teeth three times, take one Advil and drink two glasses of water. All said and done, Logan hiccupped once, massaged his temples, and made to walk into the hallway. James's arm went out in front of Logan's chest, nearly knocking him back from the sheer force of walking into that strong extremity.

"Ah-ah-ah! Nope. No walking for you." After Logan gave James a look of askance, that turned into pure confusion when James lifted him up again like it was no big deal.

This time Logan didn't peep, and let himself be carried to the couch, where he curled up, and sighed appreciatively at the cool breeze coming from the pool below them as twilight settled. Noticing the unfamiliar silence of the place, Logan tugged at James' shirt till the tall brunette glanced up at him from the tv guide, opening his mouth and pushing out "los?" and "endah-all?"

It was a pathetic try at his best friend's names, but James got the hint. "Where are Carlos and Kendall?" A nod from Logan, "They're-"

The apartment to 2J swung open with a flourish, Kendall and Carlos stumbled in, paper bags filled to the brim with so much stuff Logan could barely see his friend's faces as they staggered in.

"Right here!" James finished with a goofy grin as both boys got up and helped the other two before they dropped everything. Logan took two bags from Kendall, who noticed it was him when he could properly see, and beamed, "Logie!" Logan was tackled from behind by Carlos suddenly, pushing him into Kendall's stomach as he slammed forward. Kendall didn't move an inch, but hugged Logan tightly too. "Logan, you're alive!" Logan would have laughed at his friend's antics, had he been able too. As it where his shoulders shook with the motions of laughter, but instead a baby whimper came out from his sore throat. Because Kendall couldn't see Logan, and all he felt were shaking shoulders and all he heard was a small whimper that should only be reserved for puppies, Kendall assumed the worst.

Carlos pulled away in confusion when he thought the same thing. Kendall held on tighter, "Please don't cry, baby," Kendall urged, rubbing those shivering shoulders protectively. "We're sorry," James looked startled at this; Logan pulled back from Kendall and stared at the honest confusion in his hazel eyes. Kendall looked down and saw no tears. What…?

"Were you just…crying?" Logan shook his head. "Then what was it? Talk to us, we can help-"

James made a slashing motion over his throat for Logan. "He can't. Those energy drinks messed with his throat pretty badly or something."

"_Logan's a mute now!"_ Carlos yelped, tackling the brunette again in sorrow and sympathy. "Logan please don't hate us! I'm sorry I got a better grade! I'm sorry I left you alone! I'm sorry-" Logan meeped louder this time, getting Carlos to quiet down.

"Carlos, _Carlos_! It's okay!" James soothed. "I think it's just temporary, right Logan? You just strained your voice a little." Logan nodded earnestly; making sure Carlos could see his look of total confidence. A few days off his throat and he would be as good as new.

Both Carlos and Kendall visibly relaxed at this. "Thank _god_. …Logan," Kendall said, getting the brunette's attention, he took Logan by the shoulders and held him at arm's length, sweeping a critical, worried gaze over his band mate. "We're sorry. We are horrible people. We left you on your own with all that homework, I-I should stayed and helped."

James nodded, "Ditto, man, we could have left our reputations for later, for the Rocktober Fest, we didn't know we couldn't perform until all that work was done, we're so sorry, man."

Carlos nodded, his apologies already clear from the tear filled pleading he'd done seconds before. "We're really _really_ sorry, dude."

Logan grinned that crooked smile of his, but said nothing as he stood between the three of them. Kendall fidgeted nervously. "So…" He offered weakly.

"Forgive us?" They all asked in unison like they'd rehearsed it. Logan knew they hadn't, and that only made him smile wider.

He dragged them all into a big hug, Kendall and James on his side, Carlos in front of him. '_Always.'_ He seemed to say. One by one, the taller boys craned their necks downward, (with the exception of Carlos, who was at his height) and kissed Logan on his cheek, nose, and forehead.

They breathed out happily, clutching back at Logan desperately with protective arms, each one thinking of how they'd nearly lost him, and how that scared them so much more than losing a girlfriend or losing a status at the pool ever could.

After an amiable moment passed away gently, they all pulled back, and if Kendall's eyes were misty or James was standing closer to Logan than usual or Logan was suddenly wearing Carlos's helmet, no one asked questions.

Logan poked his nose into the paper bags on the counter curiously, glancing at Kendall and Carlos with questions in his eyes. Without his voice, he was down to small noises that resembled their names sometimes, and sometimes didn't resemble anything, not to mention his whimper-laugh that had gotten his friends so worked up. That, and the fact he was in Kendall's one size to tall hoodie, with its baggy folds and sleeves past his white fingers, made Logan look even more pathetic and adorable. Three hearts twanged in unison.

Here, the healing process began.

Kendall lumbered forward, bending over the bags at his torso and diving into the first one he reached. "This, my little Logie, is every snack you've ever loved," He pulled out a bag of Life Savers' gummies, Logan's eyes lit up with delight, "and-" He uncovered the chocolate chip cookies in their bright package, "Every sweet, too."

Kendall was nearly blinded by Logan's smile. Carlos hopped forward, eager. "AND that's not all we got!" He dove into one bag with less grace than the blonde, and dug around hastily, pulling out as many thin cases as his hands could fit around. "Check out all the dvds we rented!" He looked more eager than the boy he'd gotten them for, Logan spied quite a lot of his favorite titles among the stacks they'd gotten as they were laid on the table.

Logan reached for the gummies and _Get Smart_ at the same time, and then appeared to think of something. His friends watched as he glanced worriedly outside as night fell, before he wandered over to the kitchen and scrambled around for a paper, and pulled a pencil from the coffee mug where they kept them on the counter. Kendall, James and Carlos all crowded around their little genius, peering around his shoulder with interest as he wrote quickly.

"What. About. The. Rocktober. Fest." Kendall read out loud as the words appeared.

"What about it? We performed already." James said to the group as a general statement. Logan shook his head and kept scribbling.

Kendall read aloud again, "The. Party. Afterward. And the. Rest. Of the. Performances. Aren't. You guys. Going." Kendall licked his lips and shook his head harder than Logan had.

"No _way_ Logie. We're not gonna go party if you're not up to it. This is _your_ night. We need to make it up to you." James and Carlos nodded empathically at him, looking solemn. Logan smiled again. Did he have the greatest friends or what?

Logan wrote one more thing and held it for them all to read.

Kendall smiled fondly, "We love you too, Logie."

The rest of the night passed as smooth as the double churned chocolate ice cream they'd bought. Everyone curled around Logan as he picked the order of the movies and James handed out snacks and Carlos threw the disk in the player and Kendall dropped kisses onto Logan every time he passed the boy. Logan watched his three mother hens with affection and pride.

Finally everyone settled down, Logan peeped in surprise when Kendall dragged him into his lap and held him there. Tucking his head under Kendall's chin, Logan relaxed again quickly and laid his legs over James lap, against his back he felt Carlos' side move as the smaller boy snacked on Kendall's left side.

After _My Cousin Vinny_ came _Space Jam_, although that was admittedly more of Carlos's favorite movie more than Logan's, but he picked it anyway. Every time Logan laughed, even a little, he broke in a small cough that was broken by his whimpers of both pain and laughter. Kendall, James and Carlos each nearly went white the first time it happened, Kendall wrapping his arms around the quaking frame in anxiety, James lost his grip on the popcorn bowl and jumped a mile, and Carlos paused the movie and apologized over and over again to the struggling genius.

"_Shh_, it's okay, it's okay, Logie," Kendall whispered.

Scrambling for the pad and pencil he'd kept, Logan wrote over his wheezing.

He handed it to James, since Kendall was busy trying to help him breathe. "I'm fine. It's laughter AND pain and it's hard to stop. Feeling kind of tired. Can we go to bed." James read aloud.

Kendall kissed Logan's cheek apologetically. "Course, baby." He said softly.

Logan should have known what that would entitle. It took half an hour to clean up the living room and put away the perishable food and get the disks in their correct boxes. Logan helped, and soon they were all trudging wearily down into their rooms, but before Kendall and James turned into their rooms, Logan grabbed them by the sleeves, tugging them both back and nodding his head toward his and Carlo's shared room.

James smiled, "We all gonna fit on your bed though?"

At this, everyone went to their rooms, changed into pjs, grabbed every comforter and pillow they could hold and all headed back out into the living room, where they pushed away the orange sofa into a corner and made a nest big enough for four boys on huge floor pillows and blankets. Logan plopped in the middle of the soft hills, sleepy but in a good way this time. Carlos followed after him, hugging him tightly and pulling him down into a bed hug as they both lay there. "Glad you're okay." He mumbled sleepily. Logan smiled.

Above them he heard James chuckle fondly, before someone kneeled next to him and lips grazed his neck and trailed up to his cheek. "Feel better, Logie. Love you." James crawled over to Carlos 's side and covered both him and Logan in an extra blanket before finding one for himself. Like before with Logan, James draped an arm over Carlos's waist and curled around the smaller boy. Carlos still had him in a hug.

Another weight dropped next to him and craned over him carefully, kissing him on his hairline before going straight to his lips and nipping his lip lovingly.

"I don't know how you managed to pull off what you did, with the grades and the show today, but, please," Those caterpillars bunched together worriedly, "Please, don't ever scare me like that again baby."

'_I won't, I promise. Thank you. Love you. All of you.'_ Logan's unspoken words said everything that needed to be said without a pad and pencil, and for that Kendall and Logan were grateful. One last kiss goodnight and Logan felt those long arms draw around him and cradle him from behind as he relaxed his spine against that unmoving torso. All of them were awkward puzzle pieces that each fit no matter how paired together. All together, Logan thought they fit like a zipper, if you could fit a zipper four ways to begin with.

Sometimes, Logan questioned why he was a popstar, if it was going to get him into this much trouble and cause him this much pain, was it worth it?

And then, some other times, he would think a different thought. Along the lines of "Thank god he was a popstar, and so were his best friends."

He thought about that last one…more often, than not.


End file.
